NHA striving to develop high speed north-south economic corridor: Yousafzai

ISLAMABAD, April 5: The Stakeholders Consultation Meeting on Annual Road Maintenance Plan 2015-16 was held in Karachi Tuesday with NHA’s Member South-Zone Mr. Imran Yousafzai in the chair. NHA’s Regional GMs from Sindh and Balochistan gave presentations on maintenance work in their respective regions. Representatives of the Truck Owners Association, Filling Stations Association and NHA’s contractors participated. Speaking on the occasion, Imran Yousafzai said that the main objectives of NHA are to develop high speed north-south economic corridor, provide linkages with Gawadar Port and enhance regional connectivity. He said, current network of NHA is 12131 kilometres and current length of motorways is 690 kms, which will be increased to 2000 kms during next three years. Work on Sukkur-Multan motorway (387 kms) will start this month. NHA network is catering to 80 per cent commercial traffic of the entire country. He said, the most heavily burdened road is N-5 (GT Road) and there is a need to provide a safe and reliable alternative to N-5. The construction of motorway network is part of this effort.
NHA GM Sindh- South Sami-ur-Rehman informed that work on Karachi-Hyderabad motorway is going on. The Revised PC-1 for Lyari Expressway has been approved by the government. The work has been restarted on North Bound of Lyari Expressway and will be completed by next year. He said Karachi Northern Bypass is being widened at ICI chowk. Indus Highway from Sehwa to Retodero has been dualized. Hyderabad to Moro section of N-5 has also been improved
NHA GM RAMD Mr. Ikramus Saqlain Haider said that primary objective of such gatherings is to get valuable feedback from other stakeholders to further improve the highway safety mechanism.-PR